You who have shown me many troubles and distresses will revive me again.
Psalm 71:20, NIV

I'm sure you get the same kind of phone calls and emails that we do--reports about friends and family members facing difficulty. Perhaps it's an upcoming surgery or the loss of a job. On occasion it may involve something much more severe--a relative has been diagnosed with cancer or a friend's child has unexpectedly taken his life.

Frequently when these messages show up on our message machine or in our in-box--those times when you really don't know what to say or how to pray--I think of a moment Barbara and I shared in the county of Cornwall on the southwest coast of England. We had come across a little church on a windswept hillside, where a section of the front lawn was set apart for a cemetery filled with old, uneven tombstones, many dating back several centuries.

One tombstone bore the names of an entire family. Judging from the dates, it seemed the mother had died three weeks after giving birth. The child's name, John, also appeared, having died before he turned one. Lastly came the father's name, indicating he had lived not much more than a year after his son's death.

Etched beneath their names--in letters we could barely make out--was this simple perspective: "We cannot, Lord, Thy purpose see, but all is well that's done by Thee."

Here was a little family that didn't last long but had apparently responded to some tough circumstances with a resilient faith in God. They trusted that God knew what He was doing. And whenever my friends and family face problems today, I often tell them about that little Cornish hillside, where God reminded me that because He is good, "all is well."

Discuss
What specific circumstances in your life are desperately in need of this "all is well" reminder?

Pray
Pray for the grace to walk through trials with a faith strong enough to still be speaking long after the situation has come and gone. Can you pray, "We cannot, Lord, Thy purpose see, but all is well that's done by Thee"?

From the book Moments with you

FamilyLife

AJ,

Another good thread!! You know even through all the pain my H has caused me... I haven't ever cursed God for this traumatic experience. I've actually thanked him for it. I can only speak for myself. But I know either way, this is a learning experience for me, and nothing but growth will come out of this.

There are certain days where I'm down right too hurt or angry to even pray, so at those moments, I just raise my hands to the Lord and ask for strength, mercy and comfort while I weep.

I pray for my H to get close to God, not for my sake, but for his. I believe with all of my heart, that the Lord is the true way to over come any tragedies in life. My other prayer is that our M will survive this storm, and we will come out from the other side of this. One day I would like to minister to others who have faced the same trauma.

Thank you again for another encouraging post!! Have a good day!!

FAM5